Gallium doesn’t look surprised. “Gliss filled us in. Which is why I don’t agree with your decision. You’ll need all the help you can get.”
My shoulders slump, but I quietly pull my hair forward, the tarnished strands resting in my left palm. “Humans did this to me. They’re resourceful and cunning. They could do far worse with the help of dragons. Far, far worse with Milena’s assistance. Judging by what she did to Thaden, she’s a Blacksmith with a heart like Malak’s?—”
“A Blacksmith like you,” Tamra says, her voice cold as she pushes back her chair and turns to face me fully.
The suddenness of her accusation cuts right into me.
Her chair scrapes the floor with a screech and the sharpness of her tone cleaves me as easily as a knife between my ribs. More hurtful because it carries an element of truth.
For as long as I use Malak’s tools, I am like him.
“Yes,” I whisper, trying to speak past the tightness in my throat. “Capable of great darkness.”
She lifts her chin as she casts her glare on Erik. “When you kept our sister away from us, I believed it was because you hated us and wanted to hurt us. But now I wonder if you did it to protect us.” Her focus flickers back to me, her green eyes hard. “Because she’s so much like Malak.”
I flinch and this time, I can’t seem to breathe.
Erik’s expression has hardened, all the beautiful angles of his face dark and tense, but he doesn’t make a move toward her.
As much as I wish he would jump to my defense, I also recognize that he’s a source of tension. The shadowed glance he casts my way, along with his stillness, tells me he knows nothing he could say would defuse her anger, only heighten it.
She takes a step toward me, even though it seems she’s still speaking to Erik. “You tested her when you made her pick up Malak’s hammer on that anvil. I wasn’t there to see it, but I heard about it. The way she lit up, the strength she displayed, the awful power she suddenly controlled. You made sure she only ever used it against the monsters. You controlled her darkness.”
I try to breathe through the stabbing ache in my chest that’s growing worse with every word my sister speaks.
She isn’t saying anything that I haven’t said to myself.
There’s nothing I haven’t already acknowledged.
And yet, it hurts.
So painful that the dark medallion burns and the silver medallion heats, as if its light might fail in the face of my sudden need to harness the cold malice to protect my heart.
I finally manage to take a shaky breath as Tamra stops three paces from me, her silver head held high.
Nearby, both Gallium and Thaden are tense. Both of them have taken a step toward Tamra, and Gallium is shaking his head, as if he’s going to jump in at any moment.
If she’s aware of their reactions, she doesn’t show it.
“We have a memory of you, Asha,” she says to me, more quietly now. “Gallium and I. We were huddled behind Malak’s throne while you fought for our lives, trying to protect us, and that’s how we remembered you all through these years. But you aren’t that person anymore. Now I wonder if you ever were.”
She steps even closer as I fight the surge of ice in my hand.
“The humans didn’t cover you in soot,” she says. “They scratched off the shiny surface to reveal what was underneath.”
She may as well have slapped me.
I take a sharp breath and a quick step away from her. I need to end this encounter before my grandmother’s medallion loses its fight. Or my brother breaks his silence and creates a chasm between him and Tamra that doesn’t need to exist. The anger he’s directing at her back warns me he’s seconds away from rebuking her.
“Thaden,” I say, raising my voice to speak before my brother can utter a sound. “If you care about my family, please take them somewhere safe.” Every word I speak is strained, my throat threatening to close up. “You don’t have to tell me where. I don’t have to be a part of their lives. But you know this land better than we do, and I trust you to keep them safe.”
Thaden hesitates, his jaw clenching. He throws a glance at Tamra, his brow furrowed.
She’s focused solely on me, her gorgeous, green eyes narrowed.
“Of course,” he says. “I’ll do as you ask.”
“Thank you.” I take another step back. “That’s all I need. We’re leaving at first light. I hope you’ll do the same.”
